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Apr 22, 2019 at 7:11 PMApr 23, 2019 at 12:18 PM

It's inevitable that the luscious, green canopy of downtown Lakeland will one day disappear. The city is battling a two-front war against disease caused by vomit from a tiny insect called a planthopper and urban infrastructural issues in effort to keep Lakeland's streets lined with trees.

LAKELAND — It’s inevitable that the luscious, green canopy of downtown Lakeland will one day disappear.

Bob Donahay, the city’s Parks and Recreation director, said his staff is battling a two-front war against disease and urban infrastructural issues in effort to keep Lakeland’s streets lined with trees.

“We’ve been cutting down palm trees for the last five years and replanting them with alternatives,” Donahay said. “There’s no rhyme or reason to it. One minute, it’s a healthy tree then the next a dead tree. We have to be vigilant.”

A planthopper, an insect the size of a pinhead, first arrived in Central Florida carrying what’s called Texas Phoenix Palm Decline in 2006. It has rapidly spread, forcing the city to cut down more than 700 trees in the last four years, according to Brian Dick, Lakeland’s assistant parks superintendent. Its latest victims are a dozen medjool palms along South Florida Avenue from Main Street south to Walnut Street.

“It’s just now that the public is beginning to notice,” Dick said. “We can’t prevent its spread.”

The palm disease is spread when a planthopper bites the leaf of a palm to feed, then vomits. Enzymes in the vomit help break down cells in the leaf for nutrition. The tree becomes infected with the palm decline disease. Once infected, there is no cure.

The disease has attacked several species of palm starting with the Deglet Noors along Bartow Road, according to Dick, then the sylvester palms, the edible date palm, the Canary Island date palm and the sabal palm, Florida’s state tree. In their place, the city has begun planting nitida palms — a species native to Australia.

“So far, they are resistant to any known disease,” Dick said.

The species is also safe from the inch-long palm weevil that’s attacked the cabbage palms and the tall Washingtonia palms in Lakeland.

Just because a tree is not under attack by disease or insects doesn’t mean it’s not causing other issues. Dick said Lakeland will eventually need to remove many, if not all, picturesque live oaks and Oriental sweetgum trees scattered throughout the downtown area.

“Everyone enjoys the nice canopy, but there is a tree just as big under the ground. If you don’t give it enough room, they find any space they can to continue to grow,” he said. “They wrap around water lines, communication lines, sewer lines. They raise up the curbs and create a tripping hazard.”

Two prominent sweetgum trees along the 200 block of North Kentucky Avenue were taken down in late February after the city received several complaints from pedestrians.

“I can remember when those trees were planted,” said Mitchell Harvey, owner of Mitchell’s Coffee House. “But when you have a humongous tree pushing up the sidewalk, breaking the water main and causing issues it’s a problem that needs to be fixed.”

Dick said the city drafted a master street tree replacement plan in November to determine the best species to replace the oaks and sweetgum as deemed necessary and funding permits.

“Proper landscaping and tree planting are critical components of quality of life for downtown Lakeland,” reads the document. “The challenge is to select trees that will grow well in a 4-by-4 foot tree well.”

An extensive selection process was undertaken based on several factors including soil quality, drought resistance, wind resistance and overall size of the fully grown tree to prevent future infrastructure issues. The city’s top picks for future plantings include the Brodie Cedar, olive and crape myrtle trees. Dick said there’s no guarantee that these species will thrive in Lakeland's environment or grow large enough to produce shade.

“There’s as much an art as there is a science to this,” he said. “It takes a lifetime to figure out.”

Sara-Megan Walsh can be reached at 863-802-7545 or swalsh@theledger.com.

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